GameSalad 0.9.90 is here! Introducing Tables & In-App Purchase

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Thank you very much, i think you guys should add these answers to the tutorial cause i understood everything from it (its very informative) except what i asked.I think my game is ready for submission to apple with IAP now , ill run a few sandbox tests and upload

I've been using GS 0.9.8.2 for a while - and I just downloaded 0.9.9.0

I've only tested it for 10 mins but so far so good. Ao seems to work as it should - all rules intact, nothing broken. In fact there are even some background gfx glitches that have been fixed. Hopefully the Creator will prove sturdy after continued use.

@Braydon_SFXYou should see improved load times regarding actors that are data driven but Tables do not remove the need to still be very efficient with your assets so that they do not plug up the RAM. Tables hit CPU, Images hit RAM. Keep a good balance and your game should perform smoothly.

So along with tables being Read only.... they also dont seem to like any kind of symbols or punctuation in the imported CSV file fields. So £, $, -, " things like that seem to arse things up and make the tables pull data with a less than 100% accuracy.

Come on guys.... whats the deal with that?

So again...when can we expect an ETA on a more robust version of Tables/Arrays? You know...like it should have been in the first place?

CSV (comma separated value) files notoriously will not accept symbols … the Header columns were originally for those descriptions like $ ¢ £ p

the value of a cell has to be a Type: text or integernewer spreadsheet apps will allow you show $ or £ in a cell, but believe they do so as a ''string"..(value)computers work with numerical values differently from text ones.

when you want the cell-value display to incorporate a text symbol: in the expressionEditor: "£"..(the cell value you select)

So is it just CSV file format that its going to be a problem with? Would exporting/GS being able to import a different file type fix this?

I could go through imported/pre formated tables and either remove all the symbols, or add the "" as you suggest, but its only a realistic option on small volume tables.

As an example, I have access to over 60,000 pre-formatted mutiple choice questions... many examples would be something like:

Who famously said "blah blah blah"Who bought a fake Mona Lisa for £100 million in 1992Where can you find John O'Groats

Each of those it would seem are erronious, and cause GS tables to flip out.... my tests have shown the last 2 for definate break things... with the £ and the '

Im assuming that anyone making any kind of quiz app will need to "buy in" large volumes of pre-formatted questions, and that many of the questions would use similar symbols... so its not something thats an easy fix by going through and hand editing every potential problem, so that it can be exported as a CSV/GS friendly file.

@Chunky 60K questions !!! blimey cor bonkersAre you importing as not defined/mixed ? It seems its the old £ that is a problem - odd$"? and a whole bunch of others have been ok for me but only with small sets. I expect its a pretty basic error somewhere - could be the old US/UK charset rearing its ugly head. Any decent spreadsheet app could strip/find/replace most problems in a few minutes.

@Rob2 Im not planning on using 60k questions... but it does give me plenty to choose from for doing various themed content packs. From what I read somewhere, theres a limit of 1000x1000 cells per table (or was it 1000 cells total)... so Im aiming at breaking them down to more manageable chunks of 200-500 question sets with question and 4 multiple choice answers.

But yup... after MH explained the issue with CSV file format generally not liking symbols, Im doing various tests with different export/import settings to see what i can get away with. In the end, if worse comes comes to worst, then I can always farm out the questions to be re-edited. Its just not the most ideal solution though...

Its an issue though that has been confirmed by other users in another thread, so at least Im not alone in my suffering.. and wanting a more robust Tables file format.

After further tests, it appears that symbols are fine if entered directly in GS, or if the data is copy/pasted individually from the original database or CSV file.

However, if i try to directly import the full CSV file, it doesnt like a lot of the symbols. Ive tried various CSV file exports from different packages including Excel and Open Office, and so far they all generate errors when imported directly into GS...

So it does look like GS Tables are set up to use symbols... just that theres some issue with them when theyre imported in as CSV file?

Im finally starting to make some progress... so chilling out a bit now.

So I offer an apology to GameSalad for getting stressed out a bit... Tables do work. I guess Im just approaching it from a very specific angle.

IMPORTANT: before submitting your binary to Apple for review, you MUST be sure to Activate your IAP items for that version of the game through the App Details page. Until then, you can test your purchased items in Sandbox Mode prior to app submission.

Its been a while, but I think you have to "submit" the IAPs through the details page or the IAP page before you submit the whole binary. The App store team reviews each IAP separately and will look at the IAP description and screenshot you provide in the IAP metadata.

Yes but what is that mean ?! What to press in iTunes connect?!If I go to "Manage in app purchase" I see all the the IAP I set up and they are "waiting for review"But going to the "detail"page, there is nothing to press or activate there! Can someone upload an image for what exactly to press to "activate" in app purchase?I already rejected my binary because of this.. ;/ thinking there will be a new button that I'm gonna need to press, but nothing. I don't remember I ever pressed an "activate IAP" button before for this app.

Is anybody else having problems with the Viewer? I've downloaded the new version and changed the build settings like normal and it installed on my phone fine but when I try to move a game over on it to test, it stays stuck on the Loading "game title" screen.

As with FutureNewbApps, I am having trouble with 0.9.9, not the viewer though, the editor and viewer both seem to be much 'stickier' when playing the game. I have lots of stuttering, especially at the beginning of scenes, on a game that ran perfectly in 0.9.8Are we asking in the right place, or is there a specific thread for problems with this latest build. I haven't been able to find one - the new forum layout is still confusing me!Cheers

@P-O-MIf your IAP says waiting for review you should be fine. I found that my initial submission of a game with IAP handled it for me automatically. However, each update that I added new IAP to required an additional step in my app info where I specified which newly added IAP to include for review with my new binary.

@Lycette BrosIf there was something wrong with your IAP, as in they were not submitted at the time of your binary, they would have clarified that in the rejection. Can you provide any other details about your app and your submission? I would hate for it to come across that something is wrong with IAP versus another aspect of the submission. I've been through the Apple submission process many many times and it is STILL nerve-wracking every time because of the lack of feedback on their end. Please provide more details.

I got caught in a mess of creating an IAP then submitting a binary - then self rejecting it when it did not work as an AdHoc. It is a real mess.

The app I was working with was already approved and I was adding an App version with a new IAP included. I was unable to get any AdHoc test successfully working while the App was in review status so I deleted the binary.It is all too complicated to explain in a post. I really have to start from scratch again and are hoping that someone like TSB will post a detailed video of the IAP process.

I now have a new App version awaiting approval that needs a binary uploaded. I cannot add IAP to it as it never seemed to link to this new version. From what I have read I will have to submit a binary which is exactly the same as the original approved binary so the new version will be approved and I can then create another new version with IAP (phew)!

I am sure this will not make much sense!

One answer will help. The tutorial used a table to access the IAP ID name...is this necessary? Can't I just reference the iAP ID name from the IAP behaviour directly?thx

@LycetteBrosBecause it is an Expression Editor field for the ID, you can manually type, reference an attribute or table value. Its up to you, they will all work as long as the ID matches the one you set up on Apple.

If you are submitting an updated version you will need to be sure to create a new version on your app's detail page. This is where you will choose the IAP to include with your binary submission. I made a new IAP and created a new version of Battle Legend Infinity just for you. I then go into my App Details for the new version and right after the screen shots there is a section where you select which IAP to submit along with the new version.

Please understand that we did not create the process for managing IAP on the Apple side. The process is confusing and prone to change with updates to their service. We have focused on the core elements you will need to make IAP work in a GameSalad project.